On February 22, 1946, American diplomat George Kennan sent a "long telegram" from Moscow to Washington, which played a role in aggravating relations between the Soviet Union and the United States.
Less than a year earlier, in April 1945, US President Franklin Roosevelt had died, under which Moscow and Washington established diplomatic relations and became allies in the Anti-Hitler coalition.
However, Roosevelt's successor to the highest government post, Harry Truman, who previously held the post of vice president, was skeptical about cooperation with the USSR.
Among those who promoted the idea of confronting the United States and the Soviet Union was diplomat George Kennan.
In the 1930s, he worked for several years in the Soviet Union, after which he headed the Russian sector of the State Department.
Kennan was anti-Soviet and called on Western countries to unite against Moscow, and during World War II he openly criticized the idea of creating an Anti-Hitler coalition.
At the same time, in 1944, he returned to work at the American embassy in the Land of the Soviets.
Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman
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“Kennan positively perceived the point of view of only that part of the American elite that advocated a cooling of relations with the USSR.
It was shared by Truman, ”said Vladimir Vasiliev, chief researcher at the Institute of the USA and Canada of the Russian Academy of Sciences, in a conversation with RT.
"Long telegram"
In late 1945 - early 1946, the US Treasury requested information from American diplomats about the reasons for Moscow's reluctance to join international financial structures, in which Washington played an important role.
Kennan undertook to personally prepare explanations on this issue, and on February 22, 1946, sent a telegram of 8 thousand words to the United States, containing not only an answer to the request, but also a detailed commentary on his vision of the future of Soviet-American relations.
Later, historians began to informally call this document "long telegram".
Thematically, the message was divided into five parts, in which Kennan gave his assessment of the Soviet post-war worldview from the point of view of the leadership of the USSR and the population of the country as a whole, explained how the views of the Union's political elite could affect real politics, made forecasts regarding the development of the international situation and gave the authorities USA recommendations for building dialogue with the Soviets.
At the same time, Kennan accused the USSR of expansionism, a desire to reduce the influence of Western countries on their colonies and an unwillingness to peacefully coexist with capitalist states.
He negatively assessed Moscow's desire to strengthen the position of the USSR in the world and suspected it of intending to unleash revolutionary uprisings in the capitalist countries.
"At the root of the Kremlin's obsessive view of international relations lies the traditional and instinctive feeling of insecurity in Russia," Kennan argued.
In his opinion, this feeling was formed first because of the proximity with the "ferocious nomads", and then - with the "powerful" and "competent" West.
In the telegram, Kennan tried to oppose Soviet power to the Soviet people, who, in his estimation, were "friendly towards the outside world."
“It would seem that Kennan is here complimenting the 'Russian people', emphasizing their desire to 'live in peace', etc.
But how similar is it to Victoria Nuland's “compliments” to the Ukrainian people in 2013-2014 during the “Maidan”, or compliments from various US statesmen and public figures, representatives of American embassies in Moscow, Minsk, Tbilisi, Bishkek to those whom they decided to send in the direction of "democracy" - this is how RVIO scientific director Mikhail Myagkov evaluates Kennan's statement.
As he writes in his scientific commentary on Kennan's telegram, “the tactics of opposing“ totalitarianism ”, from the outside, and the“ people ”who supposedly yearns for foreign help in“ liberation, ”on the other, emerged long before the official start of the Cold War, the collapse of the USSR , “Color revolutions” and sanctions against Russia ”.
George Kennan
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Kennan compared communism with a "disease-causing parasite."
At the same time, he saw a threat to the West not only in the CPSU (b).
He also saw foreign communist parties and their rank-and-file members, international public organizations, the Russian Orthodox Church, Pan-Slavist movements and even liberal media as conductors of Moscow's policy.
Based on these statements, the American diplomat proposed pursuing a policy of containing the USSR - in particular, by demonstrating force to the Soviet Union and intercepting potential allies from Moscow.
In the United States, Kennan's telegram was sent to members of the government and high-ranking military personnel, and it was also distributed to American embassies in various countries.
In addition, this document with the signature "X" appeared on the pages of Foreign Affairs magazine.
Cold War ideologist
According to Vladimir Vasiliev, thanks to the spread of the “long telegram,” Kennan ended up in one of the prominent ideologues of the Cold War.
“Kennan thought he needed to play along with Truman.
He proceeded from the fact that positioning the USSR as an adversary was very important for cementing the internal political situation in the United States, ”Vasiliev noted.
In his opinion, the main idea of the telegram was the transformation of the Soviet Union into a rival to the United States.
Konstantin Blokhin, an employee of the Center for Security Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, adheres to a similar point of view.
According to him, Kennan "tried to present the USSR as a country that threatens the very existence of the West."
According to some historians, it was Kennan's telegram that became the starting point in the Cold War.
However, not everyone agrees.
"The cold war was already outlined in Potsdam, where the leaders could not agree among themselves and gave instructions to their foreign ministers to complete the dialogue," said Yuri Rogulev, director of the Franklin Roosevelt US Research Foundation at Moscow State University, in a commentary on RT.
In 1947, Kennan became head of the planning division of the United States Department of State.
Historians claim that a number of subversive operations directed against the USSR are associated with his name.
In 1952, he was appointed US ambassador to the Soviet Union, but was soon declared persona non grata.
Later he was engaged in scientific and pedagogical activities and was the United States Ambassador to Yugoslavia.
American troops in Europe
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February 16, 2021 during the opening of the specialized "Library of the Military Historian" at the headquarters of the Russian Military Historical Society
the presentation of the original of Kennan's "long telegram", given to the library by the famous collector Vadim Zadorozhny, took place.
The historical role of this document during its presentation at the event
assessed by the press secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov.
“In one visit, he outlined a certain vision and concept of future relations with our country, which then received its development, literally a month later, in Churchill's Fulton speech.
And together, these two worldviews have probably merged and became the foundation on which the worldview of the United States, partners, and satellites of the United States in relation to our country has already been formed.
This is not an attitude of friendship and partnership, to our regret, ”Peskov said.